Best in the West visits the Magic tonight
The West-leading LA Lakers (21-4), led by Kobe Bryant and his 25.2 points per game, make their only visit of the season to Orlando Saturday night. The Lakers are coming off a rare loss to the Heat 89-87 Friday night, as Dwyane Wade shredded the Lakers for 35 points.
Magic fans also get a chance to see Lakers top reserve Trevor Ariza against his former team. Ariza has been a big part of the Lakers' success, as he is averaging 9.6 points per game, which is fifth on the team. He is shooting 48.2% from the field, 29.6% from three point range, along with 5.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and a team-leading 1.9 steals in just over 24 minutes a game.
No line yet for the game, but the Magic figure to be slight favorites. UPDATE: The Lakers are 2 point favorites over the Magic. Just another indication of the oddsmakers not giving the Magic the respect they deserve.
For the complete preview of the game from Yahoo! Sports, click here
Magic fans also get a chance to see Lakers top reserve Trevor Ariza against his former team. Ariza has been a big part of the Lakers' success, as he is averaging 9.6 points per game, which is fifth on the team. He is shooting 48.2% from the field, 29.6% from three point range, along with 5.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and a team-leading 1.9 steals in just over 24 minutes a game.
No line yet for the game, but the Magic figure to be slight favorites. UPDATE: The Lakers are 2 point favorites over the Magic. Just another indication of the oddsmakers not giving the Magic the respect they deserve.
For the complete preview of the game from Yahoo! Sports, click here
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 5:05 AM
4 Comments:
At 8:10 AM,
DanielH said…
the Lakers are coming off a disappointing loss, so they may be playing mad. But they may also be emotionally tired. The Magic need to jump on them early, and expect Rashard and Jameer to have great games.
GO MAGIC!
At 10:51 AM,
Big Figure said…
I agree. The magic should come out and set the tempo early and obviously getting stops will be key. Rashard and hedo have to be aggressive and as long as jameer keeps up his stellar play i expect the magic to win tonight. Match-ups will become a huge factor at some point and as long as we play solid defense they'll have to go small and try and match up with us.
At 5:41 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Should be an interesting matchup between DH and Andrew Bynum at center. Bynum is completely recovered from his knee injury he suffered last season; we'll see how Howard does against him.
At 7:28 PM,
OVERWADED said…
Bynum is a solid center, but he really appears "weak" to me. I expect Howard to get whatever position he wants against Bynum, and as long as he doesn't pick up bogus fouls, to have a big game.
I'm not sure what it is about LA... I know they have a great record, and are the favorite to come out of the West, but they just don't impress me. They're a very deep team, but they're still too soft. So despite how much I hate Boston, I still can't see LA beating them. I think the Cavs and Spurs have a better chance.
With that said, the Lakers are coming off a tough loss to the Heat...a game they definately should have won. Considering that was only their 4th loss of the season, getting a win tonight is going to be difficult. The Magic need to bring their A-game to have a chance.
My Keys:
Howard needs to stay out of foul trouble. We need to limit our turnovers. Knock down open shots... And at least 2 out of 3 (Turk, Lewis, and Nelson) need to have good games...
Here is a good laugh I got out of the Sentinel today. I thought you guys might enjoy it, especially because it's true.
Magic beat writer and blogger extraordinaire Brian Schmitz suggests there's a chance the Magic could trade J.J. Redick to Phoenix and bring Grant Hill back to town. To which I say: Obviously, Schmitz has been smoking too much mistletoe. Are you kidding me? Bring Grant Hill back to the Magic? Hey, why not draft Fran Vazquez all over again, too? Grant's a good guy and all, but he's bad luck. Here's all you need to know about his jinxed NBA career: He left Detroit and Orlando and both teams became contenders after he left. Isn't it ironic that he left Orlando for Phoenix because he wanted to play for a ring and now, two years later, Orlando is much closer to winning a championship than Phoenix is? ...
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